Physical Therapy for ACL

ACL Recovery: Day 15
Monday June 23rd, 2008

My first real day of physical therapy. I did the excercises that they prescribed last Saturday and actually got the ride the recumbant bike today for 10 minutes. I was pretty pumped about that! After the bike, I did the excercises and she massaged my knee to break up any adhesions that might have formed.

Then while lying on my back, she flexed my knee, pushing it to the limits and them extended it again. This was the most painful part of the physical therapy because when she got to the most flexed position, she gave it a little extra, very slight, push. Probably an extra 5° of flex. She did this 20 times.

At the end of physical therapy, They iced my knee for 15 minutes and hooked me up to a machine that sends electrical pulses through my knee. Apparently, this is supposed to relieve some of the swelling.

That night I really wished I had taken the doctor up on the different pain mecication. The pain was more than the Aleve would take care of. Fortunately, I still had some percocet to take. Even though I don’t particularly like the way they make me feel, I need something to relieve the pain.